Nigel Cossons of The Mersey Gateway Project says possible polution risks can be dealt with

Jun 11 2009 by Mark Smith, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

Nigel Cossons of The Mersey Gateway Project says possible polution risks can be dealt with

THE Mersey Gateway project team says it is confident any pollution risk arising from the scheme can be dealt with.

Under cross-examination by The Alliance, which opposes the project, Nigel Cossons from the team said ‘mitigation measures’ were in place to handle displaced pollution.

Conducting the cross-examination, Lillian Burns, the Alliance’s spokeswoman, drew Mr Cossons’ attention to a document detailing the borough’s chemical industry legacy.

She said: “The estimates for the generation of galigu (a waste product formed during the production of soda-ash) are staggering. By 1891, 500 acres of Widnes and Ditton marshes were buried under an average 12 feet of waste, estimated at 10 million tons.”

She then asked Mr Cossons what the risk was of disturbing pollution contained in sedimentary particulates in the construction process.

She added that the council’s previous studies on pollution were desk-based and did not include fieldwork.

Mr Cossons replied that ‘mitigating measures’ were in place to cope with any effects of disturbing possible pollutants.

And he added that the Mersey Gateway’s investigations had included on-site work, and had not been purely desk-based.